The Avian Project
by BlueAbyssofShadows
Summary: Max and her group aren't the only flock. There's another flock, even stronger than they are. They were first created solely for the purpose of saving endangered bird species, but now, years after they escaped, Itex wants them in their hands. The enemies are targeting the two flocks now. Read inside for more details. -SYOC Closed-
1. Project PAE

**-Project Avian Endangerment- (PAE for short)**

**Basically, this project was created by a group of eco-friendly insane scientists that desperately wanted to keep endangered species of birds from going extinct by inserting their DNA into infant babies that were unwanted or given to them for money. From there on, they kept the group of avian children locked up in cages while conducting experiments on them. They considered these children rare specimens for a good cause. However, when the children got older, some of them grew violent and distressed so the scientists were not able to keep them contained. All of the children escaped, with the science lab encased in flames.**

**This story will take place at the very beginning of the first book, "The Angel Experiment". So that means that Max and her flock will definitely make plenty appearances in this story. PAE was created a year before Max and her flock were created. So the avian kids from PAE are more enhanced than Max's flock, meaning their slightly faster and stronger. So obviously they'll be playing a very vital role in the books.**

**Jeb will find out about the PAE kids very soon, and he'll be after them too, as well as Max's flock. That means Itex and the other evil corporations will want them as well, which adds more drama to the story. Everyone wants their hands on the two flocks, since they are the best experiment subjects ever created.**

**For this SYOC, I'm looking for specific ages and genders to the flock so here they are:**

**_One female age 15 (Co-leader)_**

**_One male age 14-15_**

**_One female age 13-14_**

**_One male age 11-12_**

**_One female age 5-7_**

* * *

**Form:**

Name:

Birth Name:

Gender:

Age:

DNA (98% human and 2% endangered bird species):

Appearance (Be descriptive!):

Celebrity or Model look-alike:

Personality (Be descriptive!):

History (What was your family like?):

Ability (No Over-Powering):

Wing color:

Height:

Weight:

Body Appearance (Slim, muscular, athletic, etc):

Clothing:

**Mental Description**

Fears:

Dislikes:

Likes:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Habits:

Good Characteristics:

Bad Characteristics:

**Questionnaire**

What do you think of Zeven?:

What do you think of Max's flock?:

What do you think of humans?:

Romance? (Yes or No):

Any plots or ideas?:

* * *

**My guy OC, the leader of the flock. I decided it would be fun to have a guy as the leader, since most of the Maximum Ride SYOC's consist of female leaders ;)**

Name: Zeven

Birth Name: Kyle Greene

Gender: Male

Age: 15

DNA (98% human and 2% endangered bird species): 2% Red Tide

Appearance: Zeven is fairly good-looking, having shaggy brown hair and light skin with bright hazel eyes.

Celebrity or Model look-alike: Fransisco Lachwoski

Personality: At first glance, Zeven seems to be an aloof, distant individual who always keeps his cool. He takes great pride in being a mutant, but still hates the scientists that kept them locked in cages and made them go through horrible experiments. Despite having a calm personality, he can have somewhat of a temper and tends to be impulsive, if someone pisses him off. He has great leadership skills, since he stays calm in most situations and gives orders without hesitation. He also has a very mysterious and stoic demeanor about him, often disappearing without others noticing him to go think by himself. Despite him seeming cold at times, he's extremely protective of his flock. He'll willingly put his life in danger to save them.

History (What was your family like?): His mother had him when she was around her mid 20s. However, his father died shortly before he was born. His mother and father were deeply in love, so his mother fell into depression when his father died, nearly causing her to lose the baby. Once Zeven was born, he reminded his mother too much of his father, so she couldn't bear to keep him. Instead, she left him at an adoption center. But somehow he landed in the hands of a scientist, who immediately took him to the lab to be tested on. Zeven stayed in the lab until he escaped with the other avian kids when he was 12. Blinded by anger, he set the whole place on fire using his powers. That was the last time he ever used his powers for destruction.

Ability (No Over-Powering): He has the ability to create fire or move it. However, the amount of distance he sets fire to an area is limited. If he uses too much of his power he'll become light-headed and weak.

Wing color: Most of his wings are a bright golden brown color, but the tips of his wings are black and white with specks of dark brown.

Height: 5'11

Weight: 150

Body Appearance (Slim, muscular, athletic, etc): Around average, but muscular.

Clothing: His clothing is fairly casual, consisting of hoodies and dark jeans with worn out black converse shoes.

**Mental Description**

Fears: Not being able to protect his flock, and being locked in a cage again. He felt helpless and weak being locked in a cage.

Dislikes: The School, Erasers, Itex Corporations, Scientists.

Likes: Being alone once in a while, flying, training, and fighting.

Strengths: He's great at hand to hand combat, as well as the use of guns. He has incredibly fast reflexes, meaning he can easily dodge an attack if it's straightforward. It's also hard to sneak up on him, which isn't a very smart thing to do.

Weaknesses: He isn't very good at fighting opponents who are much stronger and heavier than him if he doesn't have any weapon power. He also rarely gives up a fight, even if he is badly injured.

Habits: He can make his enemies fear him by just talk, even if he doesn't kill them. He often gets inside their head in order to make them mad and blindly attack him so he'll have an advantage.

Good Characteristics: He's loyal and very protective to the ones he cares about, so he's a very good ally to have if you get on his good side.

Bad Characteristics: He isn't very trusting of strangers or anyone except his flock for that matter. He also has a tendency to be rather cold towards strangers.

**Questionnaire**

What do you think of Max's flock?: He doesn't think much of them, just as another flock. Just as long as they don't get in the way, then he's fine with them. He doesn't think of them as a rival because he knows his flock can take them on easily, but he knows they can be rather a good ally to have once in a while.

What do you think of humans?: He thinks very little of them. He thinks of humans as weak and idiotic. But he's fine with them for the most part. It's the scientists he hates.

Romance? (Yes or No): Will be revealed later.

* * *

**A/N:**

**_Happy submitting! :) Submit only by PM. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. If you're confused about the name and birth name part of the form, the name means the nickname they go by to the Flock. For the birth name that means the name they were given by their birth parents. They won't find out their real birth names until later though. Also, please please have an endangered bird species as the 2% avian DNA. The list of endangered bird species can be found on goggle search or Wikipedia, but you probably already knew that._ _Submit those OC's guys! Thanks a bunch! :D_**


	2. Grocery Shopping

**I got so many amazing submissions, so it was so hard to choose. I loved all of the submissions I received. For the ones who's characters aren't on this list, I'm really sorry. However, I do have one spot left open if you care to make another submission. It's the younger 11-12 male OC. So hurry and get those submissions in! :) Here is the list of the accepted characters so far:**

**Renae Evans (Vixen), Age 15: Co-leader: By GottaLuvSassyPonies**

**Ethan O'Brian (Hush), Age 15: By The Gentlemen Ghost**

**Ava-Katherine Goodwin (Scarlet), Age 14: By crazyawesomequeen**

**Valerie Arnold (Mazie), Age 7: By Rhombi and Dinosaurs**

* * *

The cashier lady stared at the pile of food that she was about to scan, before staring at the two teenage customers who were buying it. She didn't ever recall seeing them around before, but she seemed rather wary of them. Especially the teenage boy who had a hood over his head to cover his face. He hadn't said much since the two of them brought the food over, in fact, he hadn't said anything at all. Both of the teens had large coats covering their bodies, which seemed rather odd since it wasn't that cold outside.

The teenage girl however, seemed much more social. She had long red hair and pale skin with bright green eyes.

A typical pretty redhead. But somehow the lady figured this girl was far from typical.

"What's your name, hun?" The lady decided to ask her, trying not to make it sound too weird. It wasn't usual for a cashier to be asking for their customers' names.

The girl stared at her, but then gave her a slight smile that seemed rather genuine. "I'm Vix," She replied, before pointing towards the quiet boy beside her. "And that's Zeven."

Zeven gave Vix a warning glare, but she returned it with a confident smile.

The lady made a slight "o" with her mouth. Unusual names, but she thought nothing of them.

Vixen then grabbed a small bag that she was carrying and proceeded to dump out a large amount of grocery coupons onto the cashier's desk. The lady blinked twice before acknowledging how many coupons she would have to scan. The situation she was in reminded her of that one TLC show, "Extreme Couponing."

"What? Haven't you ever seen coupons before?" Vixen sarcastically raised an eyebrow.

"Not this much," The lady muttered.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance miss.." Vixen squinted her eyes to focus her gaze onto the nametag that was on the cashier's shirt. It read Helen.

"Helen. Because we're going to be here a while." She finished off, smirking.

"The pleasure is all mine, Vix." The lady spoke her name as if she was trying to say a new language.

As the lady began to scan all the food before the coupons, Zeven casually leaned against the checkout counter, feeling slightly annoyed. Vixen loved talking to humans and acting normal. Exchanging names as if it were the easiest thing in the world. He knew she also did that to piss him off, which amused him a little.

He glanced around the store, just to see the types of people walking around. Everything was seemingly normal, until his hazel gaze stopped at these group of suspicious looking men. The group of men were fairly muscular, and looked to be about in their 20s. All of them had sunglasses on, and whenever they grinned…Zeven swore he saw fangs.

He continued to stare at them, keeping his cool. However, he tried to keep his face hidden as much as possible. He could faintly hear them muttering to each other, as they passed by the cashier counter. All he got from them was "Find them," or "Max."

He decided it was best to shrug it off, since it wasn't his problem. However, Vixen seemed to catch his gaze, which meant she saw the group of the weird men too.

"Zeven," She whispered, as the men exited the store.

He crossed his arms. "I know,"

"What do you think they're looking for?" Vixen nervously asked, her middle finger tapping against the counter as she usually did whenever she was feeling anxious or nervous.

"Dunno. It's not our problem," Zeven calmly replied.

"You don't that. What if they're looking for us?" Vixen angrily said, keeping her voice an inch above a whisper.

"They aren't. They said they were looking for some girl named Max," Zeven shrugged.

"I really hope you're right, Zeven…" Vixen bit her lip.

"We'll be fine. I won't let anything bad happen to you guys, alright?" He assured her.

Vixen nodded at him. She trusted him completely, but something inside her told her that something was wrong. If any of the scientists were looking for their flock, then so be it. She would kick their heads in if they even thought about touching the flock. And she knew Zeven would do worse.

* * *

Jeb Batchelder threw all of the files on the floor, causing the other scientists to jump. All of the files consisted of pictures of children they've never seen before, but they knew the files had been recovered from an abandoned burnt down laboratory near the coast of Hawaii.

"Do you know what these are?" Jeb ran a hand through his hair, before pointing at the files on the floor.

The scientists all stared at each other, before shaking their heads and moving their glasses up against the bridge of their nose. "No, sir."

"Those six children are experiments from the laboratory that burnt down. All of them have two percent avian DNA in them, just like Max and her flock," Jeb replied, his voice shaking with excitement.

The scientists stared at him in shock. "They stole The School's idea!"

Jeb shook his head. "No. I'm afraid we stole their idea. They created these avian children before we created Max. They were with the organization for the endangered animal species, only they specified with birds. They thought the birds were going endangered of extinction so they injected them into infant babies in order to ensure their future survival and mutation,"

"Interesting.." One of the scientists narrowed their eyes.

"Do you know what this means? There's another flock that might just be as powerful, no even more powerful than Max's! We have to find them, before the other Itex corporations do. The Erasers are after Max as we speak, so I'll sent more of them to search for the other flock."

The scientist grabbed one of the files that read about one of the children. "Are you sure about this, Jeb? They seem dangerous.."

"The Erasers can handle them. We created them to," Jeb explained.

One of the other scientists nodded. "Jeb is right. The Erasers can handle them. And we need both of the flocks. Our target just turned into two groups,"

Jeb took a step back, before staring at the files of the avian children. He found them all very intriguing, and he was very interested to see how both flocks would react to each other. Once he had them both, he would definitely have them meet.

Hopefully all would turn out well.

* * *

**A/N:**

_**Hope you guys liked this short chapter so far. The other flock members will be introduced in the next chapter. And that's where all the drama will proceed with the School trying to get the flocks. Does anyone know who those group of men were that Zeven and Vix saw inside the grocery store? ;) Leave a review please and tell me how you think of it so far. Thanks guys :)**_


	3. Silent Ambush

**The last accepted flock member :)**

**Lucas Cox "Phaze": By BirdKid13**

* * *

"We're back, kiddos!" Vix exclaimed, as she walked into their lovely home with several bags of groceries. Zeven followed close behind her with an equal amount of grocery bags.

Their home was a large penthouse, that resided in the area of Oregon. The house was settled onto one of the large rocks that sat upon the shore of the beach. The house was originally a vacation house for celebrities back in the day, but it was left abandoned due to the difficulty of the house being isolated with cliffs and oceans. It was impossible to get in and out unless you could fly.

"Hey, guys," Hush replied, who was sitting on one of the tables. He was currently preoccupied with placing more bullets into his sniper rifle. He was an excellent sniper, not to mention since his power consisted of making anything and everything absolutely silent. Hence, why his nickname was Hush. He was one of the older kids, along with Zeven and Vix; all of them being fifteen. Hush had short dark brown hair with icy blue eyes.

"Zeven! Vix! Finally, damn it. I'm starving," Scarlet raised her arms in the air while holding the TV remote to the flat screen TV they had. She was sitting on the sofa, casually surfing through the channels. The reason they had a flat screen TV was because Scarlet saw it inside an empty truck a few years back and wanted to steal it. Zeven eventually agreed, so the flock took the TV and flew it back to the house with them. Scarlet was definitely the firecracker of the group, even with her only being fourteen. She never gives up any fight or argument until she proved her point. Scarlet had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair that she often kept up in a messy ponytail. Her eyes were a stunning grey and she had pale skin.

"Agreed," Phaze moaned and glanced over his shoulder to stare at Vix and Zeven. Being only twelve, Phaze was always the first to do anything. He was no doubt the fearless dare-devil of the group. That kid always managed to get himself into some find of trouble because of his adventurous spirit. However, that's probably why the flock loved him the most. They called him Phaze because of his ability to go through walls. Phaze had messy blonde hair with bright emerald eyes, and fair skin.

"Relax guys, we got plenty of food." Vix rolled her eyes and smiled at the eagerness of the flock. She placed all of the grocery bags down on the table, which caused Hush, Scarlet, and Phaze to quickly run over and inspect. They immediately began to bicker on what food they called dibs on.

As small footsteps were faintly heard coming down the stairs, Vix and Zeven briefly glanced up to stare at seven year old Mazie, who had an adorable smile on her face once she saw Vix and Zeven. Mazie was a beautiful little girl, having random adults stop and stare at her whenever the flock went out in public. She was like a little porcelain doll, with long dark brown hair that reached to her mid-back, and big sweet hazel eyes. She always had a smile on her face, and was definitely the cheerful one in the flock.

"Vix!" Mazie beamed, and ran over to her.

Vix instantly grinned at the little girl, before picking her up. "Hey, pretty girl."

Mazie placed her small arms around her neck, before glancing at Zeven who was beside Vix. "Hi, Zeven." Her smile increased, as she stared at him in awe with her big hazel eyes. She always looked and talked to Zeven as if he were some sort of hero or celebrity. He practically raised her since she was a baby, but she still thought of him as her biggest role model.

"Hey, kid." Zeven's gaze instantly softened, and he gave her a tiny smile, usually a rare thing for him. But for Mazie, he allowed that sort of side to him that hardly anyone saw.

"There's food on the table, let's eat." Vix told Mazie, who responded with an excited nod. She placed her back down on the floor so Mazie could run and eat with the others.

As soon as everyone was eating at the table, Vix glanced at Zeven, her expression on her face suddenly turning serious. "Do you think we should tell them about those guys we saw in the store?" She quietly asked, making sure Zeven was the only one who could hear her.

"No. There's no point on scaring them for nothing. Just drop it, Vix." Zeven coldly replied.

Vix angrily crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll drop it. But I have a really bad feeling about them, Zeven. Whether you like it or not, I don't think it's smart for us to ignore this."

"If we go looking for trouble, then trouble will find us." Zeven hissed at her.

Vix immediately went silent. She wanted to fight back, but she knew once Zeven was angry, then that meant he didn't want to talk about it anymore. His word was law. But she definitely hated his cockiness.

The rest of the flock quickly noticed the small argument between the both of them, and suddenly the whole house went silent as all of them stared at Zeven and Vix. The tension between the both of them was pretty thick.

When he noticed everyone looking at the both of them, his gaze flew over to them. As soon as Zeven's gaze met theirs, everyone instantly went back to chattering and eating.

He gave out an irritated grunt and turned around, before walking out of the kitchen. He needed to be alone for a while. He needed to think.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Vix called out as he continued to leave the area.

"No, later." He solemnly replied.

Vix sighed as she watched him leave. But then walked over to the table to go and eat with the rest of the flock. Obviously Zeven needed his space.

* * *

Once everyone finished eating, and the younger kids were upstairs in their rooms, Vix was finishing to put away most of the food. She seemed to be distracted, so she didn't notice as Hush came back into the kitchen.

"Hey Vix. I need to tell you something. You and Zeven," He explained, while making his way over to the table.

She turned around to look at him. "Yeah, sure." She curiously raised an eyebrow. "You can tell me. I don't know where Zeven is,"

When Hush was about to open his mouth, that's when Zeven decided to silently make his way back into the kitchen. His arms were folded across the back of his head and his hoodie was covering his face. "What about me, now?" He calmly spoke.

Vix crossed her arms. "Finally he shows up," She dryly replied.

"I was hungry," Zeven admitted.

"Alright, great. You're both here." Hush let out a sigh of relief. He definitely wanted to tell them something, and Vix was very interested to hear it.

"Yeah, we're both here. Amazing, right?" Zeven sarcastically spoke with no emotion, as he got out the tortilla chips from the kitchen counter and began to microwave the jar of nacho cheese.

"That's not what I meant, this is serious. I have to tell you guys what I saw-" Hush began, but was quickly interrupted by Scarlet entering the room.

"Hey guys, are you like having some kind of party for older kids down here? Well, gee. Thanks for inviting me," Scarlet teased, placing her heart over her chest as if she were genuinely hurt, while she walked into the kitchen.

"Go back upstairs, Scarlet. I was going to tell Zeven and Vix something, only between the three of us." Hush whispered, frustrated. Whatever he wanted to say, he obviously didn't want any of the other flock members to know. Which instantly caught Vix and Zeven's attention. Whatever he wanted to say was extremely important.

"Why can't I listen too? I'm one of the older kids! I'm only a year younger!" Scarlet furiously crossed her arms, before glancing at Zeven. "Come on, Zeven. I'm old enough to know whatever you guys know too,"

"She's right. Go on, Hush. You can tell all of us." Zeven ordered.

"You heard Zeven. Go on, Hush." Scarlet mimicked, her voice laced with confidence.

"Fine," Hush muttered. "I was flying around while the both of you were gone, and I saw…this helicopter right next to the house on one of the rocks. It was surrounded by these weird group of men. I thought it was nothing at first-but then I saw their guns. And they seemed to be looking at the house. They had binoculars and everything."

"What?" Scarlet's eyes widened.

Zeven muttered a curse under his breath. "And you didn't think to bring this up until now?" He snapped.

"I didn't bring it up during lunch because I didn't want to scare Mazie," Hush explained.

Vix then suddenly turned to Zeven, her eyes blazing with fury. "I told you! And you didn't listen to me! No, you wanted me to drop it and let it go! I told you they were looking for us-"

"Wait, hold up. What? You saw them too?" Hush asked in shock.

Zeven's eyes wandered to the floor, and his fists were clenched into balls. "Yeah, at the grocery store. I thought it was nothing. Guess I was wrong." He admitted, before clenching his teeth in frustration. "Shit,"

"Why would they be looking for us, though?" Scarlet asked, her face full of confusion. "I thought the only scientists who knew about us were blown up when Zeven set the lab on fire,"

"Obviously other scientists found us out," Zeven leaned against the kitchen counter, his eyes narrowed. That was often a sign that he was thinking.

"What are we going to do?" Vix nervously questioned.

The kitchen stayed silent for a few moments, before Zeven spoke up. "Hush, grab your rifle. Scarlet, you come with us." He began to give out orders. "We're going to check if they're still there. If they are, then we're going to try scaring them off."

"Yes!" Scarlet exclaimed, raising her fist in the air. "Time to kick some scientist ass!"

"What about me?" Vix crossed her arms.

"I need you to stay here with the kids," Zeven told her.

"What? No way, you know I can fight-"

"I need you to stay here in case anything happens. Besides, Mazie and Phaze love you. You're like a second mom to them," Zeven calmly explained.

"Zeven's right, Vix." Hush agreed.

Vixen gave out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, fine. I'll stay here. But Zeven, promise me you guys will be careful,"

"We will," He promised.

* * *

Ari handed the binoculars over to one of his comrades, before baring his toothy grin towards the penthouse that resided on a rock over the shore of the beach. He was positive that the other flock lived in there, since he watched two of the bird kids fly back to the house.

His group had barely finished pulverizing Max's flock and kidnapping Angel from them. It was only seconds after they dropped Angel at the School, that Jeb gave him another mission to go find the other flock that he never even heard of until now.

He hated running Jeb's errands for him. However, he was joyful at the fact that he could break more avian kids like he did to Max. They were so easy to beat, and he relished in every kick that he gave Max. This flock would definitely be no problem. All bird kids were the same in his eyes. Weak. He didn't know why Jeb loved them so much.

"When are we going to ambush them, Ari?" One of the Erasers asked, while anxiously cracking his muscular fists together.

"Right now," Ari growled, before ushering his group towards the helicopter. The only way to get to that stupid penthouse was to fly.

"Someone stay here and watch the tank," Ari ordered, before nudging his head towards the army tank that they used for transportation and weapons.

As soon as one of the Erasers nodded, and was about to make his way towards the tank, the wheel of the tank suddenly gave out. All of the air immediately escaped, causing the tank to go into a lopsided position.

"What the hell?" One of the Erasers cursed.

"Who messed with the tank?" Ari howled, causing all of the Erasers to immediately step back. He furiously walked to the deflated wheel of the tank and bent down to closely inspect it. The wheel had a tiny hole in it, almost like if a bullet had went through it.

"What..?" Ari murmured. If a bullet had gone through the wheel, then he would have heard the sound of a gun go off. But he didn't hear any sound of a gun.

As he continued to inspect the wheel, he caught sight of a small dented bullet that was sitting beside the other side of the wheel. He picked it up with his large fingers and growled at it, before whipping around and standing up. "Someone shot the wheel." He angrily explained, while trying to see the line of sight that the bullet came from. His gaze was instantly met with a bunch of trees which provided excellent shelter for a possible sniper.

"Check those trees. Someone's in there. I think it's one of those damned bird kids trying to scare us away," Ari laughed, followed by the other Erasers who laughed as well.

"Lets get them, boys." Ari snarled, before beginning to make his way towards the trees with the other Erasers.

However, one of the Erasers immediately let out a howl of pain as he clutched onto his bleeding knee and fell onto the ground in a crumpled ball. He moaned in pain and lightly touched his wound. "They…shot me! Oh, god. It hurts!"

Ari snapped his head towards the wounded Eraser, and then sent his gaze back to the trees. The other Erasers quickly backed away, afraid one of them might get shot. He was irritated that he couldn't hear a noise from a gun going off, or else he would be able to tell where the noise came from. It was almost as if it were some invisible shooter.

"Don't be such cowards," Ari sneered at the other Erasers, before angrily grabbing a machine gun and pointing it towards the trees.

"Alright, kiddies. You want to play? I'll give it to you the hard way," Ari held his finger against the trigger of the gun, getting ready to pull it. "Come on out, or I'll shoot all of you to sky high,"

The trees made a soft rustling noise, and Ari gave out a satisfied smirk as he prepared for them to come on out. However, the noise quickly stopped, and the area was left chillingly silent. All of the Erasers stayed quiet for a few moments, nervously glancing around to see if anyone would pop out.

Ari kept his gun close to him and bared his fangs out wherever he glanced. Everything remained silent, until a quiet flap of wings quickly came behind him. The sound of the flap was so close that it sounded like buzzing in his ear. Before he even had time to turn around, he heard a male voice murmuring a one worded sentence into his ear that sent chills down his spine.

"Boo,"

Ari gasped and whipped around, getting ready to pull the trigger. But everything happened so fast, it was nearly a blur. Before he even had time to pull the trigger, he was sent flying back to the floor, caused by a powerful roundhouse kick to his stomach.

Ari landed face up on the ground, his eyes wide with shock. The other Erasers put their guard up, ready to attack at any moment. He didn't even have time to comprehend what was going on, until he raised his head up at the teenage bird kid who was calmly standing a few feet away from him. His gaze seemed…different. It was cold, emotionless. Powerful. Somehow Ari had guessed that he was the leader of this flock by the way two more of the bird kids flew down and landed behind him.

This guy was definitely different from Max. This flock was different from her flock, he could already tell. He was surprised by how easily they got ambushed. He was stupid to underestimate them. They were stronger than Max's flock.

The two other members that were behind the leader were both teens as well, a girl and a boy. The boy had a rifle in his hands, and no doubt he was the mastermind between all the silent shooting. He knew one of them had the ability to amplify and silence sounds, which was a very useful weapon. As for the girl, he could already tell she looked tough by the way she gave them dirty looks and cracked her knuckles.

Ari snarled at them as he stood back on his feet. "You guys have a lot of nerve…"

"Same goes for you," Zeven solemnly replied.

"We aren't leaving, until we get what we came here for." Ari hissed, and ordered the Erasers to immediately attack. All of them quickly lunged forward and began to brawl with the three teenage bird kids.

Hush lifted his rifle and shot at one of the Erasers, but not until more ran forward and instantly tackled him onto the ground. His rifle fell out of his grip and he was rolling around in the dirt with an Eraser, throwing punches and kicks each way, and trying to avoid getting hit.

Scarlet dodged a punch that was sent her way as she punched an Eraser in the stomach, and sent another one flying with a kick. "Hit me with your best shot, dog-breath!" She growled, before unfurling her wings and sending a downward kick onto the Eraser's stomach.

Ari could barely comprehend as his group was actually getting hurt by these kids. He barely dodged a punch thrown his way by Zeven as he blindly threw punches like some sort of madman. Zeven managed to dodge quite a few of them, but then once he punched Ari in the face, Ari came back witch a kick that sent Zeven rolling onto the floor.

Zeven quickly got up and proceeded to dodge more of Ari's attacks. Whatever these mutants were…They were obviously very tough. Zeven had never lost a fight, ever. And now this wolf mutant was proving to be quite the challenge.

As the fight went on, the Erasers only got stronger. They roughly kicked Hush in the stomach and threw Scarlet onto the ground. She instantly rolled onto her side, ready to fight more, however her body was slightly trembling. She was losing…a fight. But why? She never lost a fight!

"Aww…is the poor little birdie getting tired?" One of the Erasers sneered at her.

"Bite me," Scarlet angrily hissed back. She kicked him right in the face and got back up on her feet. However, the Eraser yowled in frustration and quickly kicked her back onto the ground, before pulling out a small handgun and pointing it right at her.

While trying to dodge one of the Eraser's attacks, Hush's eyes widened as soon as he saw the gun being pointed at Scarlet. "No!" He yelled.

Once Zeven heard Hush's yell, he punched Ari square in the jaw and briefly glanced over at the Eraser who was pointing a gun at Scarlet. He cursed and left his brawl with Ari to go immediately aid Scarlet by shoving himself against the Eraser with the gun. The Eraser gave out a surprised yelp as he tumbled sideways and landed on the ground.

"I'm fine," Scarlet muttered as she held her aching head and stood up beside Zeven. Hush immediately made his way over to them.

Ari stood up, furious. The other Erasers were stalking towards the three teenagers.

"Hush, I need you to get out of here. Go find Vix and the others and tell them to run," Zeven glanced at Hush, before glancing back at all of the Erasers who were snarling at them.

"But what about you two?" Hush worriedly raised an eyebrow.

"We'll be fine," Scarlet assured him.

"Go, Hush." Zeven repeated more seriously this time.

Hush gave him a small nod, before flapping his brown wings once and soaring off into the sky, speeding off like a bullet back towards the penthouse.

"It's no use trying to warn your friends," Ari coldly grinned as soon as Hush flew off. "There's fifteen of us, and only two of you."

Scarlet clenched her fists and prepared for another fight. As much as she knew Ari had a point, she wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug smirk off his ugly face.

"So why don't you fight me fair then? Just you and me, one on one. Or are you too scared?" Zeven narrowed his eyes.

Ari raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He sat silent for a few seconds, as if thinking. "Very well, then. Just you and me. Someone has to restrain that girl, though. To make sure she doesn't try to interfere." He glared at Scarlet, who returned his glare twice as hard.

"You don't have to worry about her. If I tell her to keep out of the fight, then she'll keep out of the fight." Zeven replied, before giving a sideways glance at Scarlet. She already had a few bruises on her skin, so he didn't want her to keep fighting anymore. His job was to protect everyone in his flock.

"I want to help fight, too." Scarlet stubbornly insisted, but quickly backed down when Zeven gave her a warning glare.

"No, stay out of it." He ordered.

"You heard the leader, little girl. Stay out of the fight if you know what's good for you," Ari gave out a menacing chuckle.

"Once Zeven is finished beating the crap out of you, I swear I'm gonna wipe your ugly dog face on the dirt with my foot, you filthy mutt." Scarlet sneered, glaring hatred at Ari.

Ari growled at her, trying to contain himself from lunging out at her.

Zeven proceeded to walk towards Ari, and the Erasers made a circle around them so they could properly fight. When Ari furiously threw the first punch, Zeven dodged it and punched him straight in the face. Once Ari hissed in pain and backed away a few steps, Zeven sent a roundhouse kick to his side, which sent him onto the ground. Ari growled in anger and grabbed Zeven's leg to throw him onto the ground with him.

Zeven clenched his teeth in pain as his body made impact with the ground, before kicking Ari in the face. Once Ari coughed out blood, Zeven stood up and kicked him in the stomach.

"Go, Zeven!" Scarlet cheered, smirking as Zeven continued to kick the wounded Ari. It was obvious that Zeven was going to win.

When Ari tried to throw another weak punch, Zeven got on top of him and began to punch him in the face over and over again. Once he felt completely satisfied and was about to stop, one of the Erasers immediately tackled Zeven and sent him rolling onto the ground. Three more Erasers jumped in and started to kick Zeven in the stomach.

"Zeven!" Scarlet lunged forward, but two of the Erasers held her arms back. "You goddamn cheater!" She screamed at Ari.

Two more Erasers jumped in, and then another one. Soon, there were six in total that were beating on Zeven. One of them punched him square in the jaw, before backing away due to Ari ordering them to.

Blood spilled down Zeven's chin, as he pushed his hands against the floor in order to raise himself up. He winced and gave out a faint smirk. "So you really are scared…" He muttered.

Ari trembled with anger as he stared at Zeven, his eyes wild with fury and fear. "Shut up!" He shoved away several of the Erasers who were helping him off the ground, before making his way towards Zeven to kick him back onto the floor.

Zeven groaned and unfurled his golden brown wings behind his back to try to stand up again. His entire body was throbbing, and ached like hell.

"Stop it!" Scarlet yelled, her eyes threatening to spill tears. It was so scary for her to see Zeven hurt this way. He hardly ever got hurt, since he never lost any fights. She felt helpless for the first time, not knowing what to do as she watched Zeven get hurt.

"Get the both of them and load them on the helicopter," Ari snarled.

When the Erasers began to scatter around, Zeven lifted his head up to see his vision slightly spinning. When he caught sight of two of the Erasers dragging a struggling Scarlet along with them, he forced himself on his feet to lunge his wings forward and hurl towards them like a comet. He tackled one of the Erasers, before kicking back the other Eraser.

"Get out of here, Scarlet. Run." Zeven ordered her, as more Erasers bolted towards them.

"No! I won't leave you," Scarlet furrowed her eyebrows with worry. She was afraid this would happen. She hated being alone, the last thing she wanted was to leave Zeven and be by herself.

Zeven cursed, trying to think of ideas. The Erasers were inches away from them, and he couldn't set them all on fire or else he would pass out and be useless. "Go, now!" He roared, shoving Scarlet aside from the Erasers.

Hearing his furious voice, she immediately obeyed and soared up into the air with one stroke of her wings.

As all of the Erasers closed in on him, Zeven stuck his hands out and sent a flash of light around them, caused by a small fire that he created. All of them stood there blind for a few seconds, swatting at their eyes.

But a few seconds was all that Zeven needed. He quickly lifted up from the ground and soared up into the sky, closely following behind Scarlet. The two of them flew out of the area with incredible speed.

Ari stared up at the two retreating winged figures up in the sky and yelled a row of curses. "Damn it! They're getting away!"

He was astonished by their incredible speed, they nearly soared like bullets throughout the sky. So this flock was stronger and faster than Max's flock.

Ari looked around, and more than half of his group who wounded, several of them were passed out. The flock had sure taken a toll on them. And that was only three members of the flock. Who knows what the rest were capable of?

"The half of you that aren't passed out on the floor, get on one of the helicopters and go after them!" Ari shouted, causing half of the Erasers to obey by rushing over to the helicopter and starting it up. As soon as it began to lift off the ground, Ari began shouting more orders.

"The other half of you get on the second helicopter with me," Ari barked, wasting no time into running in the other helicopter with the rest of the Erasers and starting the engine.

He stared at the penthouse with hateful eyes.

"I'm coming for you, kiddies." He snarled.

* * *

When Hush came flying inside the house, Vix was relieved. But then the second she realized that Scarlet and Zeven weren't behind him, her heart immediately sank to her stomach, expecting the worse.

"Where are they…?" She whispered.

Hush landed beside her. "No time to explain, we have to get out of here. Zeven's orders. Those men are some kind of wolf mutants, and they're after us. They're really strong," He breathed.

"We can't leave without Zeven and Scarlet!" Vix argued.

"You know Zeven can handle himself, they'll be fine, Vix." Hush assured her, although she could tell that was extremely worried as well.

"Vix…What's going on?" Phase questioned, as he peeked his head out of the hallway where he heard hush and Vix talking.

Mazie peeked her head out as well, curious.

Vix glanced back at the both of them, and tried to keep a strong smile on her face. "I'll tell you later, kay?"

Moments later, there was a sound of a helicopter's engine nearby.

"We have to go, Vix." Hush ushered, his expression very serious.

She stared out at the front door window, before clenching her fists in frustration. "No. They're going to pay. I'm going to smash their heads in," She tried to lunge forward, but Hush quickly held her back. Her eyes were stinging with tears. She felt terrible leaving with the flock not whole. It was like leaving a piece of your family behind. She hated it.

"No, Vix. It's not worth it." Hush insisted.

She tried to breathe calmly for a few seconds, trying to keep calm and not cry. She was the co-leader, damn it. Zeven had trusted her with that position, and she had to be the temporary leader now. As much as she hated being called his right-hand man, she missed him and Scarlet like crazy.

Vix glanced over at Phaze and Mazie who were still staring at them with wide eyes. "We all need to get out, now. Understand?" She hurried over to a window and proceeded to shove it open with her hands.

"What about Zeven and Scarlet?" Phaze worriedly demanded.

"I don't know. It's just us now, sweets." Vix told him, her eyes full of tears. "I'm sure they're fine. They probably escaped. Which is what we need to do right now, alright?"

Phaze slowly nodded, and Maize frowned. Her little eyes were already starting to swell up with tears.

A loud banging noise came to the front door, causing everyone to gasp and stare at the door for a few seconds.

"Go, now!" Vix strongly ordered.

Phase grabbed Mazie's hand and flew out the window. Vix glanced over at the door, but not until she caught glance of Hush shaking his head at her.

Vix nodded and waited for Hush to fly out of the window before she quickly followed behind.

The four flock members took off and soared throughout the sky, trying not to look back as they left the only home they ever knew.

* * *

**A/N:**

_**Wow, intense this chapter, wasn't it? I hope you guys like it so far :) It sort of sucks that the flock had to split apart so soon, but no worries! They'll be re-united eventually. The next chapter will probably be updated next week. Leave a review, guys! Thanks for the support!**_


	4. Blazing Escape

**A/N:**

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! And sorry for the long update. I'm glad you guys like the story so far. You'll see at the end of this chapter that things are going to get even more interesting fast ;) Leave me some more reviews! ~**

* * *

Zeven and Scarlet zoomed through the clouds, trying to get away from the helicopter that managed to catch up with them since the Erasers had put it on full speed.

"Damn it, they're still following us." Scarlet clenched her teeth in anger, while glancing back at the helicopter which was now gaining on them.

Zeven flapped his wings once to try and get some boost, but he knew that the helicopter wasn't going to stop following them once they had them in their line of sight. The engine seemed to be roaring in his ear as the helicopter chased them.

He tried to think of ideas quick. He knew him and Scarlet couldn't keep flying away from the helicopter forever. They would lose their stamina if they did, causing them to go slower. Where as the helicopter just ran on gas. They couldn't just keep flying until the helicopter ran out of gas. He didn't even know how much gas the damn thing had.

The sound of a door opening interrupted him from his thoughts.

He briefly glanced back to see one of the Erasers peeking out from the helicopter with a large gun in their hands.

"Move!" Zeven shouted, and as soon as a couple bullets were shot, him and Scarlet both scattered and avoided the bullets.

When they kept firing shots, Zeven realized that the only option right now was to use his power. Sure, it would drain almost all of his energy that he had left, but it would keep them from dying.

He raised his hand and aimed it at the helicopter while continuing to fly forwards. Scarlet stole a glance at him as she flew from the other side, an incredulous look on her face as she saw Zeven about to use his power. He had barely used his power ever since he burned down the lab three years ago.

His hand began to glow red, as he created a small flame from the palm of his hand. The Erasers didn't notice at first, since they continued to shoot at the two. As the fire began to grow, Zeven released a well-sized fireball from his hand and shot it towards the helicopter. As the fireball hurled itself towards the helicopter, the expressions on the Eraser's faces turned from evil smiles to absolute terror as they watched the fireball coming straight at them.

There was a loud explosion as the helicopter caught on fire and was engulfed in flames. Zeven only heard screams for a second until the flames killed them all. As the helicopter broke apart, several pieces of the machinery broke off and was sent hurling to each direction.

Scarlet cheered and quickened her speed in order to try to avoid the flaming helicopter parts being hurled at each direction. "Hell yeah! Eat flames, you stupid mutts!" She yelled.

Zeven tried to continue forward, however his vision began to immediately blur. All he heard was the crackling of flames until he began to fall from the sky. Then all he heard was the breeze of the air roaring into his ear as he was sent hurling down. He heard Scarlet briefly call his name from somewhere high above, but then her voice began to grow closer as he managed to open his eyes and see her flying down to try and get him.

Once he realized he was falling, he cursed and weakly tried to open his wings to try to softly land back on the ground. However, land was beginning to appear way to close. He was headed straight for a automobile junkyard.

He positioned himself and started to flap his wings to raise himself into the air. But he realized it was too late once his body hit a huge pile of junk parts inside the junkyard. His body rolled down the pile to drop onto a smaller pile down below. As he hit the last pile of junk, he groaned and pushed up against his hands to try and raise himself up. Several pieces of junk parts fell from his wings as he outstretched them.

He heard Scarlet land beside him with a flap of her white wings.

"Are you alright, boss?" She immediately asked.

Zeven winced as he stood up from the pile of junk. "More or less," He muttered. He was angry at himself for feeling weak. He never had to push his limits this far. It was so long since he used his power, he decided that he needed to work on using it more so he wouldn't feel so weak once he did. Damn those mutant dogs…whatever the hell they were called. He managed to kill them, but they still put up one hell of a fight. He knew now that they weren't to be underestimated.

Both Scarlet and Zeven froze up once they heard a door opening nearby and dogs barking. The both of them immediately hid behind the junk pile, closely watching as a grumpy old man came out from his trailer and looked around the junkyard. Both of his Dobermans were on leashes outside of the trailer, until the old man decided to untie them and bring them on inside. The old man glanced around the junkyard one more time, before muttering something under his breath and closing his trailer door.

"So he lives in a junk trailer inside a junkyard…?" Scarlet raised an eyebrow, as she turned her attention away from the trailer.

Zeven kept his gaze on the trailer. "Guess so," He merely replied, before glancing back. "We should get out of here," He suggested.

"You sure?" Scarlet questioned. "I mean, not that I disagree with you or anything, but maybe we should stay here for a little bit. I mean until you fully recover. This place isn't so bad, we've lived way worse."

Zeven remained silent, although he knew she had a point. He still wasn't feeling completely well yet, and they didn't exactly have a location to go to. He had no idea where the rest of the flock was, only that they were hopefully somewhere safe. It wasn't a bad idea to stay in the junkyard for at least until tomorrow. "Fine," He eventually replied. "We'll stay here for a night, and then tomorrow morning we'll head out to look for the rest of the flock." He decided.

Scarlet nodded, agreeing with his decision. "I really hope the others are okay…" She suddenly gave out a small frown. "You don't think those mutts got to them, do you?"

"No." Zeven solemnly replied. "I don't doubt that Hush got to them in time and told them,"

"I wonder what those filthy mutts wanted from us, anyway." Scarlet glared. "Next time I see them, I'll make them into dog food."

"Whoever created them obviously wants us," Zeven folded his wings behind his back and narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular. "We're going to find their creators, and end them." He coldly explained.

Scarlet gave out a menacing smirk. "They picked the wrong flock to mess with," She agreed.

* * *

Vix and the rest of the flock soared across the sky, distancing themselves from the house a good thirty miles already. Vis sighed in relief at the fact that the helicopter never managed to catch up with them . She had guessed by the time those wolf mutants even had time to start the engine of the helicopter, she and the flock were long gone by then.

She was flying behind the rest of the flock. Mazie and Phaze were at the lead, casually playing around and doing loops in the air. Hush was in the middle of them, staying silent the whole time they flew. Normally he would be cracking light-hearted jokes or making the rest of them smile, but Vix knew he had a lot on his mind, and he was worried about Zeven and Scarlet.

"It's going to be okay, Hush." Vix decided to assure him, seeing that right now the best thing for her to do was to keep the flock in high spirits.

Hush continued to keep his gaze forward. He stayed silent for a few moments, before giving out a sigh. "I don't know how you and Zeven manage to do it…" He muttered.

Vix blinked at him. "Do what?" She asked.

Hush glanced at her. "How you guys always manage to stay so calm when you know people are relying on you to keep them safe," He glanced away, his voice faltering. "I could never do that." He admitted.

"Well, I guess we're best at pretending to be calm." Vix shrugged. "But trust me, sometimes I can get overwhelmed with everything. I don't know how Zeven feels, but I think he sometimes feels the same way too."

Hush gave out a small smile. "You can never tell with Zeven. He's always so good at hiding that mysterious side of his."

"Oh, trust me. I know." Vix returned his smile, rolling her eyes.

"Well you do know more about him than anyone else in the flock does. I always thought you guys were sort of, you know, close. By close I mean, more than friends." Hush raised an eyebrow, his eyes full of playful mischief.

"W-what?" Vix stammered, averting her astonished gaze at Hush. "Me and Zeven? No way! Don't be stupid," She crossed her arms and turned the other way, however her cheeks were slightly red.

"Oh yeah, I can totally tell by the way you're blushing." Hush snickered.

"I'm not blushing!" Vix shouted, her cheeks growing even more red. "My cheeks just get red when we're this high up in the air," She immediately explained.

As soon as she said this, Hush took once glance down and tried to measure how far they were from the ground. They were a good distance away from the ground, probably as high as an eagle would usually fly. However, he knew that they've flown much higher before and Vix's cheeks never gotten red. He glanced back at her, deciding to drop the subject and pestering her about it later. "Alright, fine." He sarcastically smirked.

"I swear, Hush. Sometimes you ask the most ridiculous questions." Vix scoffed, before flying several feet past him.

"I have to ask ridiculous questions sometimes, because I know nobody else will." Hush teased. "Speaking of which, where exactly are we going? We don't really have a goal since we can't go back to our house, which probably already got burnt down by those werewolf dudes."

Vix slowed down for a few seconds. She honestly had no idea where to go, or what her plan was. But she knew she had to come up with an idea soon. "Right now, I was planning to search around to see if we can find Zeven and Scarlet." She decided to say. It wasn't a direct answer, but at least it was something.

Hush didn't seem to disagree. "That's the best idea for us, I guess. The only bad thing is that we have no idea where they are." He explained. "What if they were captured by those wolf guys? What do we do then?"

Vix bit her lip, trying to think of an answer to that question. Hush had a good point. If those mutant guys took Zeven and Scarlet, then they were screwed. She had no idea where those bastards came from, let alone who created them. She only hoped that Zeven and Scarlet had managed to get away, and were currently trying to find them.

She felt so frustrated. She had no idea what to do or where to go, the only thing on her mind was to keep everyone safe. As soon as she was about to reply, a loud shout from up ahead interrupted her from her thoughts.

"Mazie!" Phaze shouted.

Vix whipped her head forward and saw as little Mazie collided into this other figure, since she was flying a bit too fast and not looking where she was going. If she weren't so worried about Mazie, she could almost swear that she saw a pair of wings on the figure that Mazie collided with.

"Nudge!"

Vix heard another voice shout, but instead of seeing who it was, she zoomed forward and caught Mazie in her arms who instantly embraced her. Vix softly stroked her hair and shushed her.

"Ow.." Mazie sniffled, as Vix continued to hold her.

"It's okay, sweetie. You're fine." Vix assured her.

"Vix," Hush breathed, his voice laced with complete awe.

As she was about to look up and go attack the figure who collided with Mazie, she found herself frozen with confusion as she stared at the figure, no-two figures, which were several feet in front of them.

The figure who had collided with Mazie was a young African american girl around eleven or twelve, and the other figure behind her was a boy with black hair and dark eyes. He looked to be around the age of fourteen.

But there was something about them that stuck out more than any of their physical features.

They had wings. Like them.


End file.
